


The Winter Wonderland Party

by Muze



Series: The Holiday [1]
Category: AUSTEN Jane - Works, Sanditon (TV 2019)
Genre: 12 Days of Sanditon, College AU, F/M, Sanditon girlsquad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21890833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muze/pseuds/Muze
Summary: It was in the utter chaos that was their first year, she first set her eyes on Sidney Parker.She didn’t know who he was when she saw him at an 80’s party in the simplest black Pink Floyd t-shirt and ripped black jeans, but she knew she wanted him. In the hour following she was being propped up and kissed against a wall by Sidney, James disappeared, Georgiana broke up with Otis,  Esther slapped a blonde named Clara and kneed a Master’s student by the name of Edward in the groin, and she herself had a fight with the aforementioned Sidney Parker after making an examination of his friends which she meant only in gest.The second time they spoke was in her third year, and it did not go as she had assumed it would.
Relationships: Charlotte Heywood/Sidney Parker
Series: The Holiday [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582312
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55





	The Winter Wonderland Party

Sanditon University had been Charlotte’s dream. From the second she turned fourteen she’d started thinking about university. She’d always known she’d wanted to go, but she’d never been fixed on what she’d study. She’d thought about Communication Studies, then she’d drifted towards Urban Studies and Cityplanning, but in the end, her love for the classics won out, and so at eighteen she decided to study Classical Languages, and take a minor in Ancient History… Or philosophy, she still had two years to decide upon her minor.

She’d never left her old village. She’d gone through kindergarten, primary and high school there. But now she was going to a relatively new university at a seaside city with the name of Sanditon, The university was a quick riser, with a corpse of professors and postdocs and phd-students publishing new critically acclaimed A1 publications each year. It was two hours away from her home town, and public transport was a disaster, so her parents allowed her to go rooming. A new life, new studies and complete independence. She loved her five siblings and her parents dearly, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t excited about the freedom and the private time. No more sharing a room with her little sister, or having her younger brother barge in the bathroom while she was using it. And, perhaps, she hoped, a boyfriend who’d understood her and shared the same interests as her.

It was in her first year of college she befriended Georgiana, a student African Languages and Cultures; Esther, an Art History student and James, an Engineering student who she shared a class on Archeology of Rome and Greece with.

It was in the utter chaos that was their first year, she first set her eyes on Sidney Parker.

She didn’t know who he was when she saw him at an 80’s party in the simplest black Pink Floyd t-shirt and ripped black jeans, but she knew she wanted him.

It had been a blurry night back then, making sense of it in the weeks following proved challenging, and as the years went on, she could only think back on the night with utter confusion. Admittedly, the first reason the night was so blurry had been because of the circle of death and Cards Against Humanity during their pregame. But everything had seemed fine when she, Georgiana, Otis, James and Esther had left Esther’s room. But then everything happened: their group was dancing near a group of five men, and it had been clear from exchanged glances that it was very likely that something would happen. That something turned out to be her being propped up and kissed against a wall by Sidney Parker, James disappearing, Georgiana breaking up with Otis, Esther and Charlotte stumbling upon a crying girl in the bathroom, Esther slapping a blonde girl by the name of Clara and giving a Master’s student by the name of Edward a knee right up the crotch and Charlotte talking to and having a fight with the aforementioned Sidney Parker after she made an examination of his friends which she meant only in gest.

A few things had become clear in the days following the party: firstly, her big mouth had gotten her in trouble again. Secondly, Otis had a gambling problem and had boasted about landing an heiress and Georgiana had felt abused because of her money. Thirdly, Esther had apparently been dating her stepbrother – or something along those lines – and he’d cheated on her with multiple girls, like the one whom they found in the bathroom, and that girl had been crying because Edward had cheated on her with Clara. He’d cheated on Esther with one girl, and at the same time he’d cheated on that girl with Clara… Who was apparently someone Esther was also related with. Esther’s heart was broken, but her sadness turned into bitterness when she found out he’d been cheating on her ever since he left for college. ‘He could’ve given me an incredibly long list of std’s and I wouldn’t have known! I believed him for years. How could I miss it? I’m _so_ telling our aunt.’

She didn’t know why James Stringer disappeared in the middle of the night, and she knew more must have happened that night, but she didn’t know, and knew she never would. When each faculty held its student representative elections, she’d recognized Sidney’s face beside her own in the hall of the student restaurant. Apparently, he was a business student four years her senior. She’d paled at that, thinking back on her brazenness and confident attitude when she’d approached him. Four years! It was a miracle he hadn’t started at the baby-faced make-up free Charlotte rubbing her behind against him.

She saw him while going out every now and then, but she never approached him again. She decided to focus on her old friends, the student organisations of her faculty and the friends she’d made during her work as a students’ representative.

It all worked out fine, until the night of the Winter Wonderland ball, when she was in her third year and had decided to minor in philosophy, of which the proceeds would go to a charity. It had been planned by student representatives of all faculties, which meant she had been negotiating and planning the event for months, while sitting at the same table as Sidney Parker. Unexpectedly, he’d backed her a lot. And together, they were by far the driving forces behind it all. Charlotte had all the soft science faculties on her side, while Sidney, with his many friends, managed to appeal to all the science faculties. Besides that, they both worked hard for weeks on end. But the result was great, that couldn’t be denied by anyone. With pride Charlotte took in the amazingly decorated hall. She felt awkward standing on the simple pair of black heels, her only pair of heels, that was.

‘The ubiquitous Miss Heywood.’

‘I cannot help it you are present at each and every thing I am resolved to attend, Mr. Parker. And, I could hardly be absent at an event I spent so much effort and time on, and have shifts at…’

‘Believe me when I say I was at every event the past few years thinking the exact same thing. Besides, I have shifts as well. ’

‘Well I am supervising my part of the hall. Aren’t you supposed to be working as crisis manager in the lounge?’

‘I am.’

Charlotte raised her eyebrows at that.

‘Is something going awry?’

‘No, not at all. All going as planned.’

‘Oh. Good.’

‘I… I simply wished,’ Sidney Parker sighed and Charlotte started at him in bewilderment as he continued, ‘to convey my appreciation. I’m amazed at how smoothly things went. Last year was nowhere near as successful, nor was the organisation as put together. I was already a representative, the change is all up to you.’

‘There are plenty of other fresh faces. They might not be as quarrelsome as the previous ones.’

‘That might be, but none were, and no others have been, such a driving force as you. You’ve been great. A true admiral guiding the often quarrelsome representatives through faculty conflicts.’

‘Is that a compliment?’

‘Don’t assume too much, you don’t have the best deductive skills. You presume too much, but this time I thought you didn’t presume how much of a value you’ve proven to be.’

‘Perhaps, Mr. Parker, now is the time to leave behind a grudge held against me for something I said whilst drunk three years ago? No? After all, have we not seen what great things can be accomplished if people let go of old grudges?’ Charlotte asked with a smile, referring how the representatives had gotten over their grudges and prejudices against other faculties.

‘Fair point, Miss Heywood.’

He couldn’t hide his smile, and she couldn’t hide hers. And there they stood, beside each other, stupidly grinning as they looked at the drinking, talking and dancing students. It was still there, after all those years, that buzzing energy she’d felt since the second she first saw him. She still desired him. She wished she didn’t, but the attraction was still there.

‘I shouldn’t have asked you for your opinion on my friends and brothers if I didn't wish to hear it. And I shot into a defensive mode despite them not being on their best behaviour. You couldn’t have made any other assessment. Besides, you weren’t even that wrong.’

‘Your brothers? Some of them were your brothers?’ Now Charlotte knew why he’d been so pissed. She hadn’t only insulted and joked about his friends, but his brothers as well. Even in gest, she wouldn’t take kindly to a stranger commenting on her siblings. She half wished she could remember what she’d said that night, but on the other hand she really didn’t want to.

‘Tom and Arthur, yes.’

‘Oh God.’

‘I should return to the lounge, before any guests sneak off with empty champagne glasses in their purse.’

‘They wouldn’t.’

‘Miss Heywood, you’ve been around long enough to know that some guests definitely would.’

She didn’t even have to look far, Georgiana and James often got up to mischief, Georgiana having a traffic cone with a smiley on it in her room, and James having a full collection of beer glasses.

‘Good luck, Mr. Parker.’

‘Celebratory drink?’

‘I think the smell of alcohol might make me sick. I’m bone tired, hungry and I’ve had to clean up vomit twice. Thank you for offering though.’

Sidney Parker sat down on the table next to her. Her shoes lay abandoned underneath her feet which were dangling above the ground.

‘Cleaning’s almost completely done. Sound installation has been picked up, as has the tap and the last bottles of soda. Everyone’s getting their coats. We’ve survived the night. And only five glasses were broken.’

‘Five?’

‘Twenty-five last year.’

Charlotte sighed but nodded.

‘Only thing left to do is go home then. I’m sure your feet will be grateful that the night is ending.’

‘I’ll have to walk home on those, didn’t think to bring a pair of trainers.’

‘And in the snow. That’s… risky.’

‘Snow?!’

‘It was going to snow tonight, it was announced all over the news.’

‘Like I knew! I didn’t have time to check the weather report. Bloody hell. It wasn’t snowing when I came here, when the hell did that start?’

‘Three hours ago, but it’s quite a lot, I’m afraid. They’ve salted the streets but the sidewalks are dangerous.’

Charlotte eyed the smooth shiny soles of her heels. They would offer no grip.

‘Kill me.’

‘No need, snow will probably take care of that.’

She let herself fall backwards on the table.

‘I’m going to sleep here I think. I was already too tired to walk, but stumbling through the snow? No thank you sir.’

‘You have a long way to go?’

‘Albert Street, across that cute new Pizzeria with the blue tiling. Ever been?’

‘No, afraid not. But that’s what, a fifteen minute walk?’

‘Not in these shoes, not when I’m tired, and especially not with that snow laying around.’

‘Come on, Heywood. You’ve faced tougher battles than these.’

‘Yeah, but I’m not up to a fight right now.’

‘On your feet, soldier. I won’t accept defeat.’

He took her shoes and pulled her off the table.

‘Come on.’

He dragged her towards where their coats hung, and put her tired form in her coat, wrapped her shawl around her, put her pink mittens on and pushed her hat over her eyes.

‘I’m not walking.’

‘Good. You don’t have to.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You know, we are a tiny city, but we have enough modern inventions. I texted a cab over half an hour ago. I wasn’t planning on walking either.’

And indeed, standing on the threshold of the building, she could see the cab parked nearby. But between them and the cab lay meters and meters of snow, at least three centimetres of it.

‘Fuck.’

‘Seems my nickname for you proved to be quite well chosen, admiral Heywood, cursing like a sailor I see.’

‘I’m not putting on heels, and I’m not walking through that.’

‘Have it your way’, he said, and took her in his arms without much further ado.

‘Wh-What, Sidney!’

He put her into the cab with surprising gentleness.

‘As I said, Miss Heywood. You didn’t wish to walk. You’ve put enough effort in this night, allow me to reward you for it.’

She allowed him the time to get in the car and give the cabdriver instructions before she started talking again.

‘If I were still in my habit of talking too freely and assuming too much, I would voice the suspicion that you don’t hate me anymore.’

‘Hate?’

This got his attention. He looked away from his window, his brown eyes now focussing on hers as the creases in his forehead grew deeper.

 _It’s a good thing a frown looks good on him, there’s barely a moment I haven’t seen him frown,_ she thought.

‘I assumed you did, since we never talked anymore, after that incident.’

‘Well, I was mad at the time, but it was just because of what you said at the moment.’

Charlotte eyebrows rose comically high as the years old assumption started crumbling down.

‘Oh.’

‘And then Crowe started puking so I had to go. I didn’t quite know how to approach you after that, and you didn’t approach me so that was that.’

‘Oh.’

Years of believing he loathed her. It had seemed like such a normal thing: she’d insulted his friends, and he’d gotten angry and hadn’t looked back, despite that they’d been snogging no twenty minutes prior. Yet, after knowing him, it seemed equally believable that Sidney Parker had been angry with her for insulting his friends, but hadn’t approached her after because he hadn’t known how to properly express himself during or after his outburst.

He picked up on her thinking, of course.

‘Why, what did you think?’

‘You’re going to hate me for jumping to assumptions again.’

‘It seems my words made a strong long lasting impression. Charlotte, don’t forget I was drunk as well.’

‘But you were right! It’s only with getting in all kinds of councils and through friendship dramas in college that I learned to think a bit more before I start speaking. I’m still not perfect and I doubt I’ll ever be. But I’ve gotten so much wrong by assuming things too soon, and I learned the value of choosing my words carefully in councils and meetings. You were right back then.’

‘But you were right in your assumptions about my family and friends as well. But now, please tell me, what _did_ you think.’

‘That I’d screwed up forever. That you hated me. I didn’t dare to approach you afterwards. I felt very overwhelmed that night. And then I learned that you were so much older, I thought: God, he must think I’m such a stupid young girl. And now this year, during General Student Council meetings, we’ve both been quite vocal in our opinions and they haven’t always been the same. I considered it a small miracle that we got along when we were planning the Winter Wonderland Party, and that we could work together the way we did.’

‘It is obvious neither of us perform to strangers.’ Her heart warmed at the sentence. They had both done wrong, and no permanent harm had been done by their first encounter, and her prejudices had clearly been proven wrong… Wait!

‘Did you just quote Pride and Prejudice? You, a business major?’

‘I studied English- Latin for three years.’

‘Oh. Three? You decided to change after?’

‘It’s a long story. My older brother got into some trouble and I quit for a year to help him out, afterwards, I decided that if we were to keep the family business going, I better study something else.’

Charlotte was quite intrigued, but knew that at four in the morning during a cab-drive, it wasn’t really the moment to ask… Which reminded her of…

‘How am I getting home?’

‘You’re almost there.’

‘But… I didn’t tell you where I lived.’

‘You did. You mentioned the street and mentioned the pizzeria across it. I wasn’t going to take you home without telling you, Charlotte.’

 _Without telling you._ She bit her lip at the possibility of it ever happening.

She looked out of the window. They were already in her street.

‘Thank you so much. I don’t know how I can thank you. I would’ve died walking, for sure.’

The cab halted just two doors past her building. There was a thick layer of fresh glittering snow outside, but her toes tingled with excitement at the prospect of being immersed in the cold carpet of white after having been immersed in tight black pumps for hours on end.

‘Perhaps a coffee, once?’ he mentioned smoothly.

Charlotte looked at him as she grabbed her purse. He looked way too cool and composed. Innocently suggesting grabbing a coffee knowing fully well that was the most cliché date! Sidney Parker was proposing a date! To her!

She just stared in silence. His hand reached out, and pushed her chin up until her mouth was closed.

‘Good evening, Charlotte.’

‘Yes. You too. And… yes to the coffee too. Both. Both is good.’

She could just die. She’d narrowly avoided freezing to death on the way home, but now she would surely die of mortification.

‘Good.’

At that she crawled outside, to spare herself further embarrassment.

The first confrontation with the snow had her sharply inhaling, but her dignity was spared further embarrassment for she did not give a peep of surprise or pain.

She waited until the cab rounded the corner before making a very unladylike victory gesture and skipping to her door through the snow.

What a weird night.

But, oddly satisfying.

Quoting Mr. Darcy. Shaking her head, she couldn’t help her mind from conjuring an image of Sidney Parker walking out of a lake in a wet shirt. He did fit the bill, didn’t he? Too smart, too awkward, very handsome and very protective of his friends and family.

And she would be having coffee with him.

May God rest the soul of Georgiana and Esther, she wouldn’t be able to talk of anything else the next few weeks.

Or perhaps she would, after that coffee.

**Author's Note:**

> \- Whether I fully embraced the Darcy/Elizabeth and Sidney/Charlotte parallel? Perhaps. And whether I alluded to Sidney's naked swim and Darcy's swim in a transparant shirt? Perhaps  
> \- Mayhem inspired from years studying, working as a student rep, and having somewhat dramatic friends  
> \- Available on tumblr as well: check out my account, link is on my profile  
> -Happy holidays!


End file.
